ACT ON • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Act on

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/ækt ɑn/ Listen

verb

Act v. i.

To exert power; to produce an effect; as, the stomach acts upon food.

To perform actions; to fulfill functions; to put forth energy; to move, as opposed to remaining at rest; to carry into effect a determination of the will. "He hangs between, in doubt to act or rest."

To behave or conduct, as in morals, private duties, or public offices; to bear or deport one's self; as, we know not why he has acted so.

To perform on the stage; to represent a character. "To show the world how Garrick did not act."

To act as or To act for, to do the work of; to serve as.

To act on, to regulate one's conduct according to.

To act up to, to equal in action; to fulfill in practice; as, he has acted up to his engagement or his advantages.

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Etymology of 'Act on'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Act on" Quotes from Famous Books

... began to act on Vinicius also. His nostrils dilated, like those of an Eastern steed. The beating of his heart with unusual throb was evident under his scarlet tunic; his breathing grew short, and the expressions that fell from his lips were broken. ...

— Quo Vadis - A Narrative of the Time of Nero • Henryk Sienkiewicz

... advantage in using a flap valve occurs when the pipe is directly connected with a tank sewer below the level of high water, in which case, if the sea water were allowed to enter, it would not only occupy space required for storing sewage, but it would act on the sewage and speedily start decomposition, with the consequent emission of objectionable odours. If there is any probability of sand drifting over the mouth of the outfall pipe, the latter will keep free much better if there is no valve. Schemes have been suggested in which it was ...

— The Sewerage of Sea Coast Towns • Henry C. Adams

... dispel suspicions which I denounced as senseless, perhaps because I had a foreknowledge of the dreadful duty that would devolve upon me when the hour of certainty had come. Then I should be obliged to act on a resolution, and I dared not look the necessity in the face. No, I had not so regarded it, previous to my meeting with my enemy, when I saw him cowering in anguish upon the cushions of his carriage. Now I would force myself ...

— Stories of Modern French Novels • Julian Hawthorne

... in case the enemy should pass the frontiers. When the consul understood what a numerous force and what a degree of resolution the enemy had, he sent an express to his colleague, requesting him, "if he thought proper, to hasten to join him;" adding, that "he would act on the defensive, and defer engaging in battle, until his arrival." The same reason which made the consul wish to decline an action, induced the Gauls, whose spirits were raised by the backwardness of their antagonists, to bring it on as soon as possible, that they might finish the ...

— History of Rome, Vol III • Titus Livius

... deter us from it—urge us to do or avoid—for which reason is not responsible. Reason, if we bring these emotions to it, cannot even pronounce upon them. Yet in them and from them springs the life of the soul and the conviction of immortality. 'To act on impulse'—who but daily realizes that commonplace in his own experience? The mind does not only play tricks and laugh at reason in dreams while we sleep. It laughs at reason while we wake, and the sanest ...

— The Grey Room • Eden Phillpotts

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